California law professor Goodwin Liu, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 16, 2010, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be US Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Senate Republicans, dripping with partisanship and hypocrisy, blocked an up-or-down vote Thursday on the nomination of UC Berkeley law Professor Goodwin Liu to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Their argument that Liu is a leftist ideologue does not hold up to scrutiny. Instead, the continuing filibuster of Liu's nomination carries the distinct scent of political retribution.

Fair-minded people who have looked at Liu's record and determined that he has the intellect and temperament to be a superb appellate judge include prominent conservatives Richard Painter, chief ethics lawyer in the Bush White House, and Whitewater prosecutor Ken Starr.

But neither fair play nor intellectual honesty carried the day in the Senate, where Liu's nomination remained bottled up through the efforts of multiple Republicans who had opined (in the Bush years) that it was unconstitutional for senators to deprive a judicial nominee of an up-or-down vote. The obstructionists included Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who were among a group of 14 senators who had pledged that they would filibuster a nominee only in "extraordinary circumstances."

Both McCain and Graham suggested, unconvincingly, that Liu was sufficiently out of the mainstream to merit such extreme action. Graham specifically mentioned Liu's "outrageous attack" on Samuel Alito during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 2006. But, again, on closer inspection, Liu's point-by-point dissection of Alito's record was meticulously documented with facts.

Another undercurrent at play is a GOP fear that the 40-year-old Liu, with his sharp intellect and appealing manner, might be a candidate to become the first Asian American on the Supreme Court. The gamesmanship against this well-qualified nominee is a disgrace to the Senate and a disservice to the judiciary.